In this week's Gospel, the apostle Luke says that he will write down the events of Jesus' life. He then proceeds to tell the story of Jesus' visit to the synagogue where he read aloud the words of the prophet Isaiah.

"Love has asked a lot of me lately," says this author who tells about her journey to care for a young boy.

The Wedding at Cana is the story we hear in this week's Gospel. In it, Jesus performs one of his first miracles by turning jugs of water into wine.

This week we celebrate the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, who foretold of Christ's coming, telling the people that "one mightier than I is coming."

I have a confession to make: Sometimes I don’t like my kids. The same thing goes for my husband, Mark, too. And I’m pretty sure they would tell you the same thing about me. And that’s OK. Because we never promised to like each other all the time. We promised to love each other, and there’s a big difference. 

This week we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany and listen to the Gospel recounting the journey of the three wise men to see Jesus in the manger.

Recently my husband and I went on a date…to the grocery store…without our four kids. Exciting, right? For us it was. It was wonderful and exciting because it was the closest thing we’ve had to a date night in a long time. Welcome to life in the second stage of marriage.

Seeing all the celebration that surrounds Jesus’s birth, it seems appropriate that we should likewise celebrate how special each of us is.

The signs and bumper stickers that read “Jesus is the reason for the season” are absolutely right. All that we celebrate during this Christmas season began with that birth so many years ago in a manger in Bethlehem.